Description
Edgar Degas visited the coast of Normandy in the autumn of 1869 and was inspired to create over 40 small-scale landscape pastels. This particular sheet is one of the very best of this group: clearly articulated and unusual in being signed and dated, it is the only seascape that Degas relinquished during his lifetime.
Provenance
Given by the artist to Dr. Camus, Paris, 1869 [Lemoisne 1946 notes that the drawing “was given by Degas to Dr. C.,” presumably Dr. Camus]. Lefevre Galleries (Alex. Reid & Lefevre), Glasgow and London, by June 1924 [London 1924]. David William Trail Cargill (1872–1939), Stanmore, Lanark, Scotland, probably by 1928 [London 1928]; by descent to the Cargill Trust, 1939; consigned for sale to Bignou Gallery, New York, July 24, 1940 [email from Emily Down, Tate, May 2, 2013, in curatorial file]. Joseph Martin, Jr. (1915–2000), San Francisco. Sold, Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1998, lot 211, to a private collector. Sold by Ben Elwes Elwes Fine Art, London, to the Art Institute, 2013.
Accession Number
218848
Medium
Pastel on light brown wove paper
Dimensions
23.2 × 30.7 cm (9 3/16 × 12 1/8 in.)
Classification
pastel
Credit Line
Regenstein Acquisition Fund
